Lion Green Road Housing in Coulsdon Wins the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize

The Royal Institute of British Architects named Lion Green Road as the winner of the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize on the evening of 15 October, at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London. The prize goes to the UK's best new building each year.

Lion Green Road is a high-density housing development in Coulsdon, south London, designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects and commissioned by Croydon Council. It provides 157 homes across five blocks on a steeply sloped former car park. The blocks have faceted, star-shaped plans, rotated so every home is dual aspect and gets natural light. Three complementary brick types unify the buildings while giving each its own character, and shared green spaces run between them. The homes are a mix of private and socially rented.

The jury praised the scheme for addressing the pressing need for national housing and for creating a welcoming and inclusive place where people connect with one another and with nature. RIBA president Chris Williamson said it shows high-density housing can be achieved without compromising the quality of the places we create, offering housing at scale without uniformity. It is only the fourth housing scheme to win in the prize's 30 years, after Accordia in Cambridge, Goldsmith Street in Norwich and last year's Appleby Blue Almshouse.

RIBA also announced five special awards. The Neave Brown Award for Housing went to Rowan Court in Seven Sisters by Satish Jassal Architects, and the Client of the Year award went to Tonkin Liu Architects for the York Minster Centre of Excellence.

Why we mention it as a design and visualisation studio: the brief behind a winner like this is mostly about restraint. A consistent specification, with subtle variation in height and orientation, is what gives the jury its phrase about scale without uniformity. That is the same discipline we apply to a brand system or a room scheme, where a small set of well-chosen materials does more than a long list.

It is also a reminder that the best-regarded British work often comes from a modest brief done carefully, and that a clear visual idea, repeated with care, reads as quality at any scale.